Let's assume for a moment that Bioware does fix the ME3 ending fiasco and manages to regain some PR, how should they continue this franchise?

Of course there are way too many hypotheticals for how Bioware could fix ME3's ending so lets go off the assumption that the Indoctrination Theory is correct and Shepard wakes up on Earth and stops the Reapers for real however your Shepard would, Heroic Sacrifice, Pistol and butter knife, doesn't matter, Shepard wins, Reapers are stopped. I just want to know within this lore (I've never read any of the books) what could really happen to keep things interesting after the Reapers were stopped? Or should 3 be the final instalment in the franchise altogether?

Captcha: make a bee-line
Is it telling me to head for my flame bunker after mentioning the possibility for ME4 right now?

Well Bioware already stated that Mass Effect 3 is the end of Shepard's story, so ME4 could be something different entirely. It could be an even more distant future from what it is now, and might deal with a Galactic Civil War, seeing as the Citadel Races and the Terminus Systems don't see to get along very well. But let's hold off on ME4 for a year or two before we start up that, don't want too much Bioware/EA raging.

It starts by clearing up what the fuck happened at the end of ME3

An MMO, yeah, I said it. And I want one.

Caption: face the music

It starts by saying: "Sorry for the MAKO and the inventory system in ME1. We're also sorry for the dumb story and scanning in ME2 along with the bullshit ending in ME3. We've left some chocolate and a lesbian porno in the box." And then it ends.

Captcha: "I'm not dead yet", yes you are, Shepard.

The beginning of ME4 is the real ending to ME3. Shep was becoming indoctrinated and it "Was all a dream". ME4 continues the fight against the reapers and presumably leads to ME5, 5 to 6 and so on. The indoctrination of EA will become complete. Mass Effect will be CoD.

It should not be made.

Ever. Fucking ever.

I'd like more of a Mass Effect Origins type game. Bioware said we're done with Shepard, so we should be.

I don't WANT a new Mass Effect game. (other than that play-as-a-Reaper game I mentioned in that other thread)

It should end here and make place for a new sci-fi epic. Maybe with the same level of writing, and an actually good story.

I don't think it should exist. Look at the up-roar of the fans because of the third game. Who'd want to cause that again?

It stars legion and Garrus as crime fighting detectives now with 40% less calibrations

I dunno if I want to see a 4th one.

I mean, after the Reapers....what's next? As well as the fact that the different coloured explosions had different effects on the galaxy.

hazabaza1:
I'd like more of a Mass Effect Origins type game. Bioware said we're done with Shepard, so we should be.

Damn ninjaed!

They could set it a few hundred years before ME, when the Quarians and Baterians were still part of the Citadel. The player character is a new Specter (from any Citadel race) investigating some sort of Citadel crime thingy that has nothing at all to do with Reapers, Protheans, or anything else like that.

Risingblade:
It stars legion and Garrus as crime fighting detectives now with 40% more calibrations

Fixed that for you.

Forlong:
I don't think it should exist. Look at the up-roar of the fans because of the third game. Who'd want to cause that again?

The up-roar isn't because of the game. The up-roar is because of the way the ending was handled.

I could go with a Firefly-style "outlaws on the run from the vicious Asari bureaucracy of Armageddon+1000 years" approach.

Galaxy shattered with the mass relays gone, civilization just barely clinging on, and everyone prone to abuses of power. What's not to love?

versoth:
It should not be made.

Ever. Fucking ever.

You just won the internet.

I have a feeling the next ME game is going to be set in the First Contact War. However, I hope them come up with something more interesting than that, mainly because I would like to see the other races besides the Turians, and I don't want to shoot them in the face. :3

Bara_no_Hime:

hazabaza1:
I'd like more of a Mass Effect Origins type game. Bioware said we're done with Shepard, so we should be.

Damn ninjaed!

They could set it a few hundred years before ME, when the Quarians and Baterians were still part of the Citadel. The player character is a new Specter (from any Citadel race) investigating some sort of Citadel crime thingy that has nothing at all to do with Reapers, Protheans, or anything else like that.

But without humans, who will be the generic enemy you attempt to commit genocide on? I guess Batarians could fill those shoes, but it just won't be the same...

OT: Hmm...probably would take place parallel to the events of the first 3 games, or possibly during the 2 years Shepard was dead. I'm sure something exciting happened during that time.

what should mass effect 4 be?

never released. or if released never purchased till EA and Bioware learn a very harsh lesson about dicking with the gaming community.

Firefly +DR WHO + Mass Effect2 = ME4

but really, it might be the first contact war or maybe something with the prior civilizations that were wiped out before the protheans.or maybe something with protheans.

Some new person (perhaps from a selection of species?) gets to deal with the Dark Matter crises that was the original idea of the ME series.

Original Quarian-Geth wars done something like DA:O with the various races/classes. Krogan or Turian warrior, Asari adept, Quarian or Geth Engineer, etc.

I dont want a ME4. Maybe a few spin-offs like a stratagy game or an mmo.

Fleetfiend:
I have a feeling the next ME game is going to be set in the First Contact War. However, I hope them come up with something more interesting than that, mainly because I would like to see the other races besides the Turians, and I don't want to shoot them in the face. :3

LadyDeadly:
Firefly +DR WHO + Mass Effect2 = ME4

but really, it might be the first contact war or maybe something with the prior civilizations that were wiped out before the protheans.or maybe something with protheans.

There's not really much to the First Contact War though. It basically boils down to "Turian patrol destroys Human exploratory vessels. Humans return and destroy Turian patrol. Turians respond by making Shanxi it's bitch. Human Second Fleet arrives and fucks Turian shit up. Council steps in with a "dudes, chill". A 3 month battle where the Turians spent most of the time chucking debris at cities while the humans ran around hoping not to get crushed doesn't sound particularly interesting. And the only event worth doing was already done in a prequel book.

I would be surprised, if the Mass Effect universe is never touched again. I would actually be happy, if it's not but then again, they would be wasting it - it has potential. And they've put time and effort into making a whole universe.

Instead of retyping it, I had a post about it somewhere else - here it is:

DoPo:

Bara_no_Hime:
I didn't like the ending, but the ending didn't invalidate anything. If you're upset because the ending doesn't address your decisions, then that's a different thing to be upset over. However, just because they aren't addressed doesn't mean they don't matter - they do. After the credits roll, to everyone living in that universe. The results aren't part of the story - they're part of a non-existent epilogue.

Or a very much existent if BioWare decide to make something after the apocalypse. It doesn't need to even have Shepard in it, so they would have kept their end of the bargain and finished with Shepard's story (he/she could make cameos if alive).

But I don't see a good way of continuing the ME franchise after what all that's happened. I suppose there are overall two ways to handle everything a) have game(s) set before ME1 - play as part of humanity exploring space for the first time and that sort of thing. No clashes with variable lore (Shepard's actions) so no problems (potentially) b) Set the game in the far future. 100, 200 or maybe 500 years later. Shepard is good and gone, some of his actions wouldn't matter in the current point in time but the decisions could be addressed and referred to if you import a save. It's easy to make a more organic story as well, and set incompatible choices aside (if you didn't kill the Rachni they might have been wiped out by something else, just as an example).

There is potential of doing more with the franchise and I doubt BioWare will just scrap it...although the outcry after ME3 may make them consider postponing. And postponing may be as bad as scrapping it if not worse.

So, that's what I think their options are - far future or past.

CAPTCHA: lunatic fridge

...

wat.

Seriously, what!?

Non-existant.

LOLOLOLOL.

But for reals, I'm not even saying that because fuck the ending (though kinda, I think they should reap what they sow. You pull that ending, stick to it)

But Mass Effect was Shepard effect.

An RTS. Please, please, please an RTS. How I have longed for a sequel to Homeworld 2. A Mass Effect RTS could have to potential to be that spiritual sequel.

CAPTCHA: face the music. Um... Yeah... I'm creeped out.

ThePS1Fan:
Let's assume for a moment that Bioware does fix the ME3 ending fiasco and manages to regain some PR, how should they continue this franchise?

Of course there are way too many hypotheticals for how Bioware could fix ME3's ending so lets go off the assumption that the Indoctrination Theory is correct and Shepard wakes up on Earth and stops the Reapers for real however your Shepard would, Heroic Sacrifice, Pistol and butter knife, doesn't matter, Shepard wins, Reapers are stopped. I just want to know within this lore (I've never read any of the books) what could really happen to keep things interesting after the Reapers were stopped? Or should 3 be the final instalment in the franchise altogether?

Captcha: make a bee-line
Is it telling me to head for my flame bunker after mentioning the possibility for ME4 right now?

They've already announced that there will be more Mass Effect games, just no more featuring Shepard as the main character.

So, unless the Reapers weren't the only massive galactic threat looming over our galaxy, about the only thing they can do is dig into ME's rich history. Personally I'd like to see a Mass Effect game that visits one of the big wars that we learn about. The Morning War, First Contact War, Rachni War, Krogan Rebellions, etc. Or perhaps make a medley that visits a few key battles from each (kinda like a Star Wars: Battle Front). Though I can only imagine that doing so would make it more just a straight up 3rd person shooter rather than a 3rd person shooter/RPG.

:P Still, thats all I got at the moment.

There shouldn't be one. The ending of ME3 killed the universe. So there's nothing left to be said. I hope this fact causes Bioware to think a bit more before they end a series by salting the earth to ensure that no future work can ever grow.

Ironman126:
An RTS. Please, please, please an RTS. How I have longed for a sequel to Homeworld 2. A Mass Effect RTS could have to potential to be that spiritual sequel.

That could be very, very cool.

I'm going with the MMO opinion though - has been mentioned a couple of times, and seeing that ToR is doing ok so far, I don't see any reason why a ME MMO wouldn't be a viable option.

Would definitely have to be a fair way into the (ME) future though.

There are certainly a few more stories to be told after Shepard's; with the Mass Relays shut down some then even if alternative travel were possible some places would be too isolated to be really effected by the choices made in the first games, and therefor not have to account for every one of those choices.

If they retcon the relays being deactivated then a Halo: Reach type game where you played on what you know will be the loosing side of either the Quarrian/Geth conflict of Krogan rebellions would be interesting. There was hardly any ground fighting in the first contact war... a game based around ship combat where you used dialogue to both encourage and direct your crew could work, but I doubt it's going to happen as the next Mass Effect. Would make for an amazing boss battle though. I can't think of any significant conflict in the Asari backstory that would make for an interesting game, they've been present throughout a the other races conflicts but never really had one of their own. Maybe create a story where the main Asari govornment has to destroy a Cerberus-like spinter group after they first find the citadel? It would fit into the theme of patterns always repeating themseves.

Something where you played as Kai Lang would be interesting (he was only shot a million times, stabbed through the chest and left to die on an exploding space station; if he didn't survive that I'm going to be very dissapointed) but given how much we were made to hate him in ME3 it would take a hell of a narrative hook to actually enjoy playing as him.

I really hope Bioware and EA don't screw over this universe, it has a lot of fun left to give.

ThePS1Fan:
Let's assume for a moment that Bioware does fix the ME3 ending fiasco and manages to regain some PR, how should they continue this franchise?

Of course there are way too many hypotheticals for how Bioware could fix ME3's ending so lets go off the assumption that the Indoctrination Theory is correct and Shepard wakes up on Earth and stops the Reapers for real however your Shepard would, Heroic Sacrifice, Pistol and butter knife, doesn't matter, Shepard wins, Reapers are stopped. I just want to know within this lore (I've never read any of the books) what could really happen to keep things interesting after the Reapers were stopped? Or should 3 be the final instalment in the franchise altogether?

Captcha: make a bee-line
Is it telling me to head for my flame bunker after mentioning the possibility for ME4 right now?

Even if they fix the ending, they shouldn't. The series was hard set to being a trilogy, and aftering beating the horrors from beyond the galaxy, I am pretty sure their is no threat that can match up to that.

It is like the fourth Pirates movie. After facing off against Davy Jones, the entire British fleet, and a god of the sea, Black Beard wasn't that much of a threat.

A story with a new hero starting before the end of Mass Effect 3 and continuing after. Perhaps have the hero be one of the resistance troops Anderson commanded on Earth.